“I don’t mind going,” Melanie volunteered. “What time do they close?”
Olivia glanced to the old clock over the window. “It’s only three. She’ll be open another couple hours.”
They’d gone straight from the airport to Knobs and Knockers to get the samples. Her friends were wise enough not to question her when she came out with tear-stained cheeks after talking with Jax. They knew her well enough to know that if she wanted to talk, she would. Right now, though, she wanted to do something productive to make it seem like she was getting somewhere and not at a total standstill.
“I’ll go get the paint,” Melanie said as she grabbed her purse and the keys off the hook by the back door. “I assume we need drop cloths, brushes, rollers, trays.”
“All of that,” Olivia agreed. “And paint stirrers. We won’t get to all of the rooms today.”
“Want to start in here?” Jade suggested.
Olivia glanced at the walls, the curtains. “Sure. I’ll take this stuff down. Oh, make sure you get some painter’s tape so I can protect the cabinets. Several rolls since we’re doing so much.”
“You might want to text me all the supplies so I don’t forget something.”
Jade came to her feet. “I’ll ride with you. Between the two of us we’ll remember.”
Olivia handed over all the colors they’d agreed upon and waited until they were out the door before she started removing pictures from the walls. She piled everything onto the island, ignoring the faded outline from where things had hung for the past decade.
The ache in her chest couldn’t be described. Knowing her father had been sick when she and her mother left cut so deep through her emotions. He’d spent more time at the airport in those final days before Olivia left in an attempt to hide his illness. What did that say about the marriage? Olivia was starting to see that maybe her father had stepped back when his marriage fell apart and let his daughter make her own decisions.
Part of her feared she’d made the wrong one.
Granted, the cancer hadn’t taken his life and he’d come through, but Olivia wondered who had been there for him. Had he been sick long? Who helped him get to and from appointments on days he felt too bad to drive?
She climbed on the counter and started tugging at the curtain rod. It came loose and she tossed it to the floor. She stared at the brackets and realized she’d have to go to the garage and get a screwdriver. The garage was one place she dreaded tackling. What should she do with all those tools?
She swallowed the lump of guilt and hopped off the counter. Pulling her phone from her pocket, she sent off a text to Jackson. She didn’t want to see him or talk to him right now, not when he’d slapped her in the face with reality and the truth. She was humiliated and angry at herself for being a selfish teen, not seeing how much her father had needed someone.
Olivia could freely admit, since this new fact had come to surface, she was angry at her mother as well. Had she seen signs her father wasn’t feeling well? He’d obviously had to go through some doctor appointments and testing to get the final diagnosis. How had they not known?
Another part of her was angry at her father and his pride. Damn it. Why hadn’t he reached out? Yes, she understood his concern of them staying out of guilt, but what would have been so wrong with that? At least he wouldn’t have been alone.
Olivia grabbed the handle in the middle of the garage door and gave it a twist. She shoved the door up and headed inside. She didn’t park her car in here because there was no room. She doubted her father ever had his car in there since she left because the one-car garage was overflowing with tools, spare parts for lawn mowers, a couple of old push mowers, and random things she’d have to classify as junk.
She had no clue what his filing system was, or even if he had one here, but she was going to have to find a screwdriver in this mess. With the sunlight pouring in, she glanced around the mayhem. At this rate, she may have been better off texting Melanie and telling her to just buy one. There was no way she’d find anything in here . . . except maybe a critter.
The thought crept into her head and sent shivers racing through her. Olivia didn’t want to stick around to see if something had chosen to take up residence.
Just as she turned, she ran directly into a hard chest.
“Easy there.” Jackson’s hands gripped her arms. “Where you running to?”
This was the second time today he’d grabbed her . . . and the second time her body responded instantly to his touch. The arousal that assaulted her each time he was around was only growing stronger and stronger. Denying her ache was a moot point because she constantly lived with it now.
Why did she have to find this man attractive? Wait, attractive was much too tame of a word to describe what she felt for Jax. He was sexy, caring, frustratingly smart, and managed to take up some serious real estate space in her mind.
There were so many red flags that popped up when her hormones attempted to take over. She was much older than him, she wasn’t sticking around here, and . . . well, that’s all the reasons she had. Wasn’t that enough?
“I’m positive there’s a rodent in there or a snake or a hairy spider.” Once again, she shivered. “I was trying to find a screwdriver and . . . what are you doing here?”
“I was on my way home when I got your text.” He glanced over her shoulder and surveyed the inside of the
